The Trump administration announced it would introduce duties of 5% in less than two weeks' time, and steadily ratchet them up to 25% by October — Mexico "substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory," a White House statement said.

The tariffs will have a significant impact on the avocado trade. The US imported more than 85% of its Hass avocados from Mexico last year, bringing in nearly 2 billion pounds of the most-popular variety of the soft fruit, according to the Hass Avocado Board. Avocado prices have more than doubled in the past two months to almost 550 Mexican pesos ($28) for a 10-kilogram box, according to Bloomberg.

The most dramatic increase came in April, when Trump threatened to close the border with Mexico. The Hass price from Michoacan — the heartland of Mexico's avocado industry — surged by 34% in a single day, its biggest rise in a decade, according to Bloomberg.

The spike probably reflected importers bringing forward purchases to avoid border disruptions, and a heatwave in California that delayed the state's avocado harvest, according to Bloomberg. The prospect of 25% tariffs on Mexican avocados could also spur buyers to rush orders, driving up prices and forcing supermarkets and restaurants to pass on those higher costs to consumers, likely reducing demand.

"We're paying a lot more right now," Hartung said at the time, adding that he expected prices to normalize later this year following Chipotle's seasonal shift to Mexican suppliers. News of the tariffs may well have dashed those hopes.

Calavo Growers' reliance on Mexican avocados means the California-based avocado supplier could be hit even harder. It earned north of $600 million in revenue last fiscal year — more than half its total gross sales — from selling about 390 million pounds of avocados and avocado products such as guacamole and salsa.

"Our continued success in marketing avocados is largely dependent upon securing a reliable, high-quality supply of avocados at reasonable prices," the company said in its latest annual report. Steep tariffs on Mexican avocados will be anything but welcome.